Easy Baked Oysters in their shucked shell

Tonight I wanted an oyster fix- and tried to get it from our local super rather than a reputable fish market= fail! After shucking the first one and tasting its' suspicious murky brine I decided the best thing was to cook the four. They ended up being so easy to make and delicious, far beyond my expectations!
Easily make the filling in a saucepan over medium-low: a pat of butter, a clove of garlic chopped or pressed, a 1/4 cup or rather sprinkle of panko bread crumbs, some ripped up parsley.
Shuck oysters and eat raw. If they are "questionable", eat them this way! Pour some inexpensive coarse salt in said baking pan (oven at 400 degrees).
The salt is a bed for the shells to sit in so their liquid stays inside.

Top with filling.

Zest in some fresh lemon peel.

Using the same grater, put parmesan on top. Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

Sort of Chicken Cordon Bleu

This is the least fussy way I have prepared "chicken cordon bleu". My recipe went astray in that I used what cheese I had on hand, delicious smoked cheddar. Feel free to improvise with whatever cheese and ham lunch meat that needs to be used up!
Sautee sliced mushrooms (in butter + a dash of Hidden Valley Ranch powdered dressing) and boiled asparagus (4 minutes, drained, butter & sprinkle of marjoram) rounded it out.



Russo's has g reat house-made ham and their cheeses are generally less expensive and better tasting than the regular supermarkets. It's more of a hassle and a wait to go on the weekend. Alex went in with us and decided it was too much and retired to the car. Chaotic shopping bothers him and I respect that ;D
Ingredients ready to be stuffed up! Cut those big breasts through the side width, right in half.
Saute thin sliced mushrooms in spot of butter and once browned, a sprinkle of powdered Hidden Valley Ranch mix. This mix does contain (much to my dismay, after the fact) some msg so I hope to find an alternative.
Prep your breasts. Stuff with ham and cheese to your liking and pin with toothpicks, minimally. I use to try and keep ingredients contained but have found oozing cheese and crisp ham around the edges to be particularly delicious. The goal is to use a minimal amount of toothpicks.
Cook in preheated olive oil (and covered) on medium high for 4 minutes. If breast doesn't want to budge when turning, give it a minute longer. Cooking with a cover causes the top to cook and turn white as well!
Turned, the final cook time (after first 5 min.) was 4 more minutes. Remove to a platter and cover with foil.

The trusty cooking devices.

Tester ate through the ham & chicken foremost and veggies next. A definite fan and plate clearer!

Breakfast Hash and Bloodies

A hearty breakfast to look forward to! This is a great way to use some leftover steak bits. Just add them at the end so they warm up.
Dice up 3 small potatoes (1/2" cubes) and put in a microwaveable bowl. Cover with water and put a lid on. Microwave on high for 8 minutes. Carefully drain.

Almost brown the bacon then add onions to cook.

Once the bacon and onion has cooked for a little while, use a paper towel to absorb excess grease.
Once the bacon and onions are browned up a bit, add the potatoes. Cook over medium low heat, turning occasionally. It probably takes about 20 minutes to cook.
Perfect amount of time to get started on those bloody marys!

Some inspiration off the back of a magazine.

Bloody action!

Season with pepper (no salt), thyme, and cayenne pepper.

How to know if it's ready? Taste it!

Dad's portion doesn't include ketchup.

Tester approved! He gobbled it all up. His favorite part? Ketchup! Of course.
He requested more "chepsup" twice.

Seared Trout with Braised Fennel

This is a super easy way to enjoy a relatively quick trout dinner.
Unfortunately, my midwestern-raised (in the crucial, formative early eating years) husband does not like fish. This means that I seldom prepare it or even eat it as often as I'd like.
After all, food is love and serving up the love is half the fun! Tonight was a night where I could not imagine eating anything other than fish. Alex ate peanuts for dinner. Boy, did he miss out! My future fish lover Andrew gobbled it up :D
First, thinly slice up a fennel bulb. I used a mandoline which slices it up very thin and quickly.
Heat a large skillet pan on high heat then add a TB of olive oil. Cook the fennel for around 7 minutes. Allow to brown up nicely by turning no more often than once a minute. At the end of that time, salt & pepper. If you have a lid for this pan, add 1/4 cup dry white wine and simmer for 7 more minutes. I started up a smaller (covered) sauce pan with wine and once it was simmering, added the fennel and cooked on low heat.
Chop a tablespoon of parsley and salt & pepper both sides of your trout (Alex did this while I flipped it).

After 7 minutes the fennel is done. Check seasoning, add parsley and toss.

Melt a pat of butter in a nonstick skillet over high heat and once sizzling subsides, add trout skin side down. Cook for 3 minutes. Carefully turn and cook one minute more.

Nicely browned. The skin is tasty (I had some).

The taster has a funny face on here. I realize why: he closed his eyes to taste! Makes sense to eliminate other "senses" when experiencing food, right?

Chicken Lollipops!

A sneaky hand, going for a forkful of rice!

This is a great casual dinner, even perfect for parties since eating food on skewers keeps your hands clean and is great for presentation.
To make them, you need bamboo skewers (soaking in water for at least a half hour prevents charring), chicken tenders, honey, whole grain mustard and dijon mustard. In place of honey, you could use apricot preserves or any sticky sweet thing that might work well. Our grape jelly was not at all appealing.

Below, the assembly line ready to go: Skewer chicken, roll in ham, bathe in honey mustard, stick in panko crumbs. Repeat.

Make sure the honey-mustard is to your liking!

At first mine was too sweet so I added more whole grain mustard but that still wasn't right. Dijon cured it! Remember (I didn't) to keep some untainted sauce aside for dipping!

Asparagus for a side. It had been so long- Like to make it simply on the grill or in the toaster oven. Make a foil dish, splash olive oil, balsamic, oil and garlic powder, s & p.
Break apart asparagus by hand. First in half then the headless end gets the "tough" part snapped off. Toss around to coat (use your hands) and cook (I use a toaster oven) at 425 for 6 minutes.

Cook the chicken at 450 for 16 minutes (or less), flipping them halfway through.

Wanda's Grandfather's Pickles

Below, pickles made again on 1/30. Made TWO jars (pickles in below recipe were eaten up by day 3)... This time, added carrots, peppers and onion to the pickling jar.
Taste is an incredible flavor memory, turned reality twenty years later.
Impressive, right? More so because it's a pickle and I LOVE things that are treated with vinegar! Try this recipe. It is so easy and rewarding. I am sure it will be a regular in our fridge now.

Thank you to Lynnie Sedgwick! She provided this recipe years ago, during a junior high fellowship (church) group meeting where we made these pickles individually, as a large group. What a fun activity!
I requested this recipe from her years later, and she still has it!
By the way, we do not know who Wanda is, other than her grandfather owning an incredibly easy and delicious refrigerator pickle recipe ;D.
Wanda's Grandfather's Pickles
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 Tablespoon salt
3/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. dill seed
1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 cucumbers, thickly sliced

Add everything to a mason jar except
garlic and cucumbers. Shake.
Add cukes, mixing in garlic slices.
Cover and refrigerate.
Ready to eat in 3 days!

Make sure to select "pickling" cucumbers and that they are firm and in great condition (not dried out or wrinkly).

Easy way to pour into the jar: use a funnel!

I used an "antique" canning jar with a glass lid. (Missing rubber gaskets to fit it!)
Any old jar is fine, even recycled old pickle jars. I used 3 pickling cukes in this large jar and had around 1" of extra space which I filled with vinegar. No Prob!
These taste so good, they will not last long in your fridge!